Ya, I recall watching it with my parents…
I even had Hee Haw pants.
Cant find a pic like the ones I had, but I think this brown pattern is the closest:
I wish I had been cool enough to rock these overalls…
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My family is about as far removed culturally from “Hee Haw” as you can get in the white industrialised West, but for some reason* it was regular viewing in my household for a few years in the 70s. I still remember my favourite bits: “Where, oh where” and Junior Samples holding up his advertising sign and Roy and Buck a pickin’ and a grinnin’.
[* not just lack of options in a 4-channel TV world]
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I can only think that a person would call Hee Haw “the worst in American culture” if they had very little familiarity with American culture.
I lived in rural southern Kentucky in the seventies. I didn’t like it much. The hayseed bit is not my thing. Hee Haw was very popular with my peers. Some of my classmates even appeared on it.
But the worst? The burning of the Bronx, the Kent State shootings, Attica uprising, Boston busing riots, Camden riots, the war in Vietnam, Altamont, the invention of crack… and Hee Haw was the worst thing going on? I don’t think so.
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Country AND Western.
I always thought Buck’s RWB guitar was cool. But, what was up with the long haired twins?
Regardless of how we look back at the show today through the lens of 48 years since it’s creation, the show has made a significant impact on american culture. But, until today largely forgotten.
Interesting HH facts (via MeTV):
IT WAS CREATED BY CANADIANS.
Despite being a quintessential American show, Hee Haw was actually created by a pair of Canadians. Comedy writers Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth wanted to create a sketch comedy series after seeing the success of Laugh-In.
IT WAS ONLY FILMED TWICE A YEAR.
The show ran for an impressive 25 seasons, partially because it didn’t have a grueling filming schedule. Twice a year, in June and October, the cast would meet up in Nashville to shoot 13 episodes. Co-host Roy Clark compared those block sessions to a family reunion.
IT SURVIVED THE RURAL PURGE.
The early 1970s was a bad time for rural-themed programming. Popular programs like Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Mayberry R.F.D. were all canceled to attract new audiences to CBS. Hee Haw was no exception, and it was canceled along with several other shows. However, the series was quickly brought into syndication, and stayed on the air more than 20 years after it was originally given the ax.
IT HAS AN ODD CONNECTION TO ‘THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW.’
Hee Haw and The Lawrence Welk Show were canceled during the “Rural Purge,” but they both rebounded in syndication. The continued success of the shows inspired Clark to write a song called “The Lawrence Welk-Hee Haw Counter-Revolution Polka,” which became a top 10 country hit on the Billboard charts.
ELVIS PRESLEY WAS A HUGE FAN.
Elvis Presley was reportedly such a big fan of the show, he wanted to appear as a guest. Presley also dated two Hee Haw Honeys: Linda Thompson and Diana Goodman. After the legendary singer’s death, his father made an appearance on the show and paid tribute to his late son.
KATHIE LEE GIFFORD GOT HER START ON THE PROGRAM.
Before she was shooting the breeze every morning with Regis Philbin on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, and way before she was drinking wine with Hoda Kotb on TODAY, Gifford got her start on the Hee Haw spinoff, Hee Haw Honeys. The musical sitcom focused on the female cast members, but it didn’t last long. TV Guide ranked it as the 10th worst show of all time.
THE SHOW INSPIRED A BROADWAY MUSICAL.
We can’t think of two things more different than Hee Haw and Broadway, but the two came together for Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical. The musical comedy, set in modern day Kornfield Kountry, opened in Dallas last year. It also starred American Idol’s season one runner-up Justin Guarini.
BUCK OWENS WASN’T A HUGE FAN OF THE SHOW.
Owens owed a lot of his fame to the television show, but he wasn’t the biggest fan of it. In his autobiography, Owens said he took the gig for the money. “I couldn’t justify turning down that big paycheck for just a few weeks work twice a year. So, I kept [selling my soul] out to that cartoon donkey.” (Note: We edited the quote for language, but you get the point.)
OWENS AND CLARK HAD HOSTED A PROGRAM TOGETHER BEFORE ‘HEE HAW’
Hee Haw wasn’t the first program to recognize the chemistry between the two hosts. Before their careers exploded, Owens and Clark appeared together on the variety show Swingin’ Country in the mid-'60s.
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I <3 Wonder Showzen
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I think I remember that child model (in other attire) from when I was a kid and wishing I could be that cool.
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One of those newfangled over-the-air digital channels has been broadcasting Laugh In for a few months, and I have to say, that show really doesn’t hold up nearly as well as Hee Haw. Both shows did a lot of really corny dumb jokes, but Laugh In’s humor (and just about everything else) also suffers from being really dated as well. Hee Haw’s humor I can at least laugh with for being silly. Laugh In is more crappy overall, almost embarrassingly so (like “what were they thinking/was this really cutting edge humor?” or something), with only the occasional good gag thrown in. In comparison, Hee Haw humor looked like a continuation of Beverly Hillbillies/Green Acres kind of silly, unsophisticated humor. And of course, Hee Haw usually had some pretty good musical segments throw in.
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Gloom, despair, and agony on me
Deep, dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all
Gloom, despair, and agony on me
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Most (if not all) of those things aren’t really examples of culture, though. Tragedies, travesties, and horrifying, yes. Things to be ashamed of, yes. But culture? No. Decidedly not.
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Oh, I agree. It was a lot of political & cultural humor that’s very dated. At the time it was more cutting edge. But also at the time, I was pretty burned out on all the “country” shows that flooded the networks at the time. Laugh-In was so different. And I loved Rowan & Martin’s bit with Martin’s stupid/outlandish act. Lily Tomlin was fabulous.
The 70’s in general looks awfully dated now. Gad.
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At the start of the video I saw a glimpse of Canadian comedian Don Harron in his character as Charlie Farquharson. I never watched the show back in the day, so I didn’t know he was a regular.
Looking at the thumbnails at the end of the video, I’m impressed by the lineup of musical talent they managed to attract - Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Sonny James, Loretta Lynn, to name just a few.
The jokes are more of a caricature of the worst-derailed BoingBoing comment threads (you know who you are). 
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All this talk about old variety shows really makes me wish we would see (another) Smothers Brothers revival.
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Strange, I don’t believe I’ve even heard of this before. I saw the headline and momentarily thought it might be about Howdy Doody.
Does it compare to Red Green at all? Good fun, Red Green.
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I watched Hee Haw all the time as a kid, this clip is just as I remember it, no better, no worse. It was what it was, silly corn-pone humor, it never aspired to be anything more.
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Numerous landmines, unexploded bombs, incipient tragedies, and derisive interpretations come to mind when considering a life post-Hee-Haw. So, anything having to do with chocolate is a wonderful surprise.
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Late stage Hee Haw
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One of my favorite jokes of his, from Bulls Session at Bulls Gap, where he talks about cooking - he claims he can cook carp to taste good.
To paraphrase - nail it down to a board to bake in the oven, grease it up and real nice with spices, throw it in the oven on low heat for a couple of hours, take it out, throw the carp away, and eat the board.
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It was a staple at my house, we had four channels so you took what you got for the most part. Still I always found it mostly entertaining and I find it no less of a terrible display of the culture it depicts than something like “The Big Bang Theory” as exaggeration tends to be the root of many comedies. I will say that Red Green is far better hick humor than Hee Haw though!
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My dad was a religious Hee Haw viewer, which he watched every Saturday night before dinner. His parents, from Tennessee and Texas, also loved musicians and comedians connected with Hee Haw, like Dolly Parton and Jerry Clower.
One of my favorite Clower jokes…
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I watched it every week, but only for the girls.
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